The Holmes Cottage is a historic house at 521 Main Street in
Calais, Maine. Estimated to have been built about 1820, it is the oldest surviving structure in the town, and is notable for its association with Dr. Job Holmes, a leading physician during the community's formative years. The cottage, now owned by the St. Croix Historical Society and operated by them as the Dr. Job Holmes Cottage & Museum, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1988.
Description and history
The Holmes Cottage is located on the south side of Main Street (
United States Route 1), a short way east of the downtown area. Just to its east stands the
Dr. Job Holmes House
The Dr. Job Holmes House is house at 527 Main Street in Calais, Maine. It was built in 1850 by Dr. Job Holmes, a prominent local physician, and is a fine local example of Italianate architecture. It is now owned by the St. Croix Historic Societ ...
, also a property of the St. Croix Historical Society. The cottage is a -story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, central chimney, and clapboard siding. The main facade is symmetrical, with a center entrance in a two-story projecting gabled section, which is flanked on the roof by gabled dormers. The interior follows a typical center-chimney plan, with a narrow winding staircase in front of the chimney, the parlor to the left, kitchen to the right, and a long narrow room behind. The parlor exhibits particularly well-preserved original Federal period woodwork and hardware.
The construction date of the house is unknown, with local tradition placing it before 1805. Its first documented owner was Artemus Ward, a
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
land speculator, who bought it in 1805. It later was acquired by Dr. Job Holmes, who lived there with his family until the house next door was built in the 1850s. It remained the Holmes family until it was given to the St. Croix Historical Society in 1954.
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See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Maine
References
External links
Dr. Job Holmes Cottage & Museum
- St. Croix Historical Society
{{National Register of Historic Places
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Houses completed in 1820
Houses in Washington County, Maine
Buildings and structures in Calais, Maine
Museums in Washington County, Maine
Historic house museums in Maine
Science museums in Maine
Medical museums in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Maine